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1984 Nissan 50th Anniversary Edition 300ZX Information

I'm creating this page to clear up some falsities I keep finding on the internet. Most of the details you find here will also be found at http://z31.com/misc/info/ae.

ALL true US and Canadian special edition 50th AE 300ZXs were turbo charged 2 seaters with the digital dash and leather interior. If your North American 1984 300ZX is not turbocharged, doesn't have t-tops, or has 4 seats, stop right now. You don't have one of the special editions.

Question: How can I be absolutely certain the car is a true 50th AE?
1) Open hood.
2) Identify Model plate on driver's strut tower.
3) Look at line that contains MODEL information.
4) Scan line for "L5". If the line doesn't have "L5" in it, the car is not a true 50th Anniversary Edition.

    There are only 6 possible combination of letters for this line for the North American 50th AEs. They are:
  • KHLZ31XT(N or V or U)GL5W
  • KHLZ31XAT(N or V or U)GL5W
If it isn't one of these numbers, it isn't a North American AE. The "N" is for Canadian models. The "V" is for Californian models. The "U" is for the other United States models. The "A" is for automatics.

What sets the 50th AE apart from any other 1984 300ZX Turbo?

Exterior Features

  • Mirrored T-Tops.
  • Silver paint on top and black paint on lower half of the car.
  • Four black and three gold pinstripes (one sticker per panel) was placed around the entire car at the silver/black paint intersection. The gold stripes got bigger as you go from bottom to top. Going over the wheel wells, it was reduced to a single gold stripe surrounded by a black stripe. View this picture for an example.
  • 16 inch wheels with gold painted insets. The 86T had exactly the same style wheel, just with dark gray inserts. Clink this link for a comparison of an original AE wheel next to a polished 86T wheel.
  • Added on side skirts and rear fender flares.
  • Wider front fenders (same shape as 86-89).
  • Car Cover with 50th AE logo. Picture 1. Picture 2.
  • 50th AE badge on driver side fender between wheel well and door. (please note that many of these cars have them on both sides. Again, no one really knows for sure about the originality of these emblems. The common thought right now is these were probably placed on the passenger fender by the receiving dealer making a more symmetrical look.)

Interior Features

Other standard features: - These items could be found on non-AE vehicles as well.

50th AE Breakdown:

Emiss\TransAutoManualTotal
Federal1,2232,9014,124
California2138111,024
Total1,4363,7125,148

Rumor: Only 5000 of these special cars were made.
Fact: This is a rough number and has no real hard facts. Nissan isn't even able to confirm this number. According to z31.com, there were 5,454 of these special cars made. UPDATE: There were 5,148 50th AE's designated for US sales. See the registry below. There are an unknown number of Canadian AE's.

Rumor: The 50th AE's have a badge in their glovebox stating their number.
Fact: No US 50th AE came with this badge, only in Canada did they come with it.

Rumor: Only 1500 of these cars are said to exist.
Fact: This is a total guess by people who are trying to drive the value of their cars up. Truth is, NO ONE knows how many of these cars are still around. Even after someone determines the VIN numbers for all of the 50th AE models, they still may or may not be able to find all of these cars. Some have even been exported to Japan or other countries. Not all the cars not found would be destroyed or in junkyards. There may be a few that are off the road for restoration. While I'd really like to believe the 1500 number, the evidence just doesn't support this number. Watch e-bay and look in the local autotrader. I see at least one 50th AE in every edition of the Phoenix Autotrader, and there's almost always at least one on e-bay.

Rumor: My 1984 300ZX has a 50th AE badge on the driver fender, therefore it must be a 50th AE car.
Fact: Not even close. Many dealers would take this badge (it was delivered in the glovebox with attachment instructions of most of the Nissan cars delivered to dealers that year) and stick it on the car. The more unscrupulous dealers (gee, dealerships lie?) would sell these cars as 50th AE cars and charge a higher price. There are lots of fake AEs driving around.

Rumor: My car has all of these things, so it MUST be a 50th AE. / My car doesn't have all of these things so it isn't a true 50th AE.
Fact: As with anything, people customize, accessorize, and modify things to make them their own. Just because the car has all of these items, it doesn't mean it came that way from the factory. Just because the car is missing a few things, it doesn't mean it came that way from the factory either. For example: I was told that I don't have an anniversary edition because my car doesn't have a hood scoop. Does that mean I don't have an AE? No. What it means is my car is no longer original. What does that mean? It means my car will lose points in a stock class at a car show. It also means my car isn't as desirable and wouldn't command the high dollars some show cars can get. Do I care? No. I'm in it for the thrill of driving the car.

Links to other 50th AE's on the internet.

50th AE Registry

United States | Canada